The Accidental Birth of a Movement.
The Wide Awakes are born from violence. With details collected from a careful analysis of contradictory versions of the night, we can recreate the dramatic moments that made these boys famous: Our boys’ march as a bodyguard encircling Cassius Clay’s carriage. Holding leaky fireman torches they escort him from the speaker’s hall back to his hotel. A few textile shop apprentices hurriedly create oil-proof jet black capes which later became the official uniform. When the boys are attacked by a Democratic heckler who shoves one boy to the ground, a textile salesman named James Chalker knocks the thug out cold with a swing from his heavy torch. Still amped after midnight, the Pearl Street boys are asked by the Republican Party chairman to volunteer at every upcoming Party gathering. The next rally, in a week, is hosting an unknown former Whig Party Congressman from out west named Abe Lincoln.